Toys 'R' Us at Its Worst

I'm almost compelled to never shop at Toys 'R' Us again. Recent headlines highlighted the story of baby Yuki Lin who was denied a top prize of $25,000 in a Toys 'R' Us contest because her mother, Yan Zhu Liu, is not a legal U.S. resident. If the high-paid corporate lawyers Toys 'R' Us employs lack the ability to write unambiguous contest rules for their "First Baby of the Year Sweepstakes," so be it. Don't renege on the deal.

The alarming part is that the current American Online poll shows that 62% of respondents believe that the Yuki Lin should not be awarded the money. This clearly represents ethnocentrism at its ugliest. Perhaps I'm more aware of ethnic diversity because I live on a street that could be considered a subset of the United Nations. I could easily learn five new languages from my daily interactions with the diverse ethnic makeup of my neighborhood, and I am as time permits.

Sure, I'm pursuing membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution and am an eighth-generation descendant of a Revolutionary War Colonel. Just because the German part of my ancestral line settled here in the late 1600s, doesn't mean I'm any less aware of the plight of new immigrants to our country. I'm sure the bigots who voted in the AOL poll will also quickly note that another runner-up in the contest was born to parents from El Salvador. Wake up, people. Most white people aren't having many children, and if they do they are waiting until they are approaching geriatric age. Who exactly would they expect to win the contest? A nice middle-aged "white" family who fits their familiar and narrowly-defined preconceptions about the world.